John D. Ross of Falmouth Elected President of the Board of Directors

August 18, 2006

CONTACT:

John Ross, President, 508-548-3435

John K. Bullard, Past-President, 508-548-8404

NEW BEDFORD—John D. Ross of Falmouth, MA was elected President of the Board of Directors of The Coalition for Buzzards Bay at the organization’s July 2006 Board meeting.

Mr. Ross succeeds John K. Bullard of New Bedford who served as Board President from 2002-2006. The Coalition for Buzzards Bay is a private, non-profit membership organization dedicated to the protection, restoration, and sustainable use of Buzzards Bay and its watershed. Founded in 1987, the organization works from Westport to Woods Hole to improve the health of the Bay ecosystem for all through education, conservation, research and advocacy.

During Mr. Bullard’s tenure as President, the Coalition grew to become the largest environmental organization in southeastern Massachusetts with 4,700 members and a full-time staff of 10 and has established itself as a leader on issues ranging from watershed land conservation to oil spill prevention.

Commenting on his term as President, Bullard stated, “I have always tried to find ways to improve Buzzards Bay whether it was building a sewer treatment plant in New Bedford or volunteering with the Coalition. It is wonderful to see more and more people involved in the protection of the bay.  The Coaltion continues to grow in its effectiveness.  I urge everyone to get involved.  There is a lot of work that remains to be done.” Bullard is the former Mayor of New Bedford and is currently President of the Sea Education Association (SEA) in Woods Hole.

John D. Ross lives on West Falmouth Harbor where he has summered all his life. After twenty years in Investment Banking, he changed careers becoming a Management Consultant to non-profit organizations.

Ross’s interest in the restoration and protection of Buzzards Bay stems from his own local advocacy on West Falmouth Harbor. Twelve years ago John and his wife, Martha, retired to Cape Cod and John became active in the West Falmouth Boat Club. This group provides a liaison between the Town of Falmouth and the people who moor their boats in the harbor. Members began to realize the harbor’s water quality was being affected and the club became the local activist group to do something about it. The town had built a wastewater treatment plant in the mid-eighties on a hill one mile above the harbor. A plume of nitrogen pollution coming from this plant takes about eight years to reach the harbor. The affect of this is that algae grow, eelgrass to dies and living things like scallops and crabs do not exist. After several years of trying to convince the town that the plant had to be denitrified, the club partnered with the Massachusetts DEP to have the School for Marine Science & Technology at UMass/Dartmouth do a study, which proved the plant was the harbor’s major environmental problem. Finally, in 2001 town meeting voted to retrofit this plant and construction was completed last year. John serves on the Board of F.A.C.E.S. (Falmouth Associations Concerned with Estuaries and Saltponds) and for the past twenty-eight years has been an active member of U.S. Sailing serving on their board and more recently their Executive Committee.

Commenting on his election, Ross stated, “My family has fished and sailed the waters of Buzzards Bay for six generations. I look forward to continuing to help the Coalition with the excellent job the organization is doing everyday to save the Bay.”

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